Now Libya steps on Obama message

President Barack Obama’s decision to intervene in Libya has presented him with a whole new set of political problems with members of both parties. But its most worrisome effect for the White House is the way it’s undermining his efforts to address what has been his administration’s longest-running issue — the economy.

The economy – and Obama’s claim that he rescued the country from the brink of depression — will be central to Obama’s reelection campaign, which he officially launched by releasing a video message to supporters Monday morning.

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But in the view of his closest allies, Libya is drowning out his attempts to portray himself as an economic commander-in-chief fighting a series of new threats to the fragile U.S. recovery, especially the devastating and politically poisonous rise in gas prices.

The most recent example: On Friday, press secretary Jay Carney hoped to spend quality time with the White House press corps discussing an upbeat March employment report showing the economy added 216,000 jobs, outpacing analysts’ estimates.

But he was asked a grand total of two questions about the report. He fielded 16 about Libya and at one point had to sneak in a plug for the positive job numbers when a reporter asked a question about budget negotiations with Congress.

“Don’t tell me Libya is not a distraction,” said Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. “Dealing with a military operation of this complexity, with this many moving parts, takes an enormous amount of the president’s time. We’re talking about hours and hours a day dealing with his national security staff. ... It has an impact on everything else.”

No one understands this better than the West Wing staff, especially senior adviser David Plouffe, who has relentlessly emphasized the need to focus on the recovery to subordinates, congressional Democrats and Obama himself.

“I know there’s a lot going on in the world, and the news is filled with images of the Middle East and Japan,” the president said during an appearance on Friday at a UPS facility in suburban Maryland.

“But you should know that keeping the economy growing and making sure jobs are available is the first thing I think about when I wake up every morning. It’s the last thing I think about when I go to bed each night.”

He pointed out that unemployment had fallen a full percentage point in the past four months, from 9.8 percent to 8.8 percent. “The last time that happened,” he added, “was during the recovery in 1984.”

Obama’s team has been trying to keep the focus on the economy in the face of seemingly relentless foreign policy headwinds. Their decision to go ahead with his five-day Latin America tour last month, for example, was motivated less by foreign policy objectives than by the prospect that a Brazilian trade deal would deliver jobs to the Midwest.

Obama’s schedule since then has been dominated by a steady diet of events on the economy — green jobs events, visits to manufacturing plants and an emphasis on employment-boosting education reform. On Wednesday, Obama travels to a Philadelphia-area clean energy company to discuss the increase in gas prices.

Obama staffers have made it clear to Democratic allies they are worried about the effect of Libya on their economic message and that one of the factors pushing the administration to hand over control of military operations is the perception that the president is more focused on the Middle East than on Middle America.